


I Hear Everything

by Demon Dreams (ScribeAzari)



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Norman is always listening, Norman thinks about stuff, Snippet, What DOES Bendy do with the body?, mention of canon-typical deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 11:17:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18520372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeAzari/pseuds/Demon%20Dreams
Summary: Norman's existence has become rather strange since the ink took him, but it hasn't changed his habits all that much. Well, apart from a decidedly more casual attitude towards spiting angels and getting his head yanked off





	I Hear Everything

Darkness, wiping out the floor in flowing screams and pleading. Every slosh another ripple of knowledge, of suffering. It was toxic, mind-eroding if you weren’t careful, but linked into so _much._ Identity stretched between pools, lying in wait for any stir of new knowledge. It was hard to keep enough together to think on what he learned.

Slipping into a sort of automatic pilot was all too easy, his body left trudging on with whatever tasks he’d set himself last. Refocusing was tricky, painful and often time-consuming – he usually lost time between doing so, but he tried to remember to refocus every so often, to make sure he still could. He might hear everything in the depths, sooner or later, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be trapped outside his body, warped and painful though it was.

The last time he’d come back to himself had been to spite the false angel, against whom he’d heard so many outcries. She wanted the inky hearts for her experiments, did she? He knew she feared the ink, so what better place to hide away the gory ingredients she needed than down where he made his lair? He didn’t really care for them himself, odd and unnerving things, but if hoarding them would hinder Alice, then he would gladly pile them up amidst his lakes of ink.

The searchers lent him aid, heeding his call and carrying the hearts they could find. While he was lucid in his form, a change they could somehow sense, they oozed to him for comfort and companionship, much as they did with Sammy. It was nice, being able to help someone like this, however little. Even tenuous friendships were valuable in such a place as this, and it was good to be able to focus on something wholesome for a change.

Conflict, unfortunately, was inevitable. Not all searchers were lucid, nor any of the Butcher Gang he’d encountered. As for the Ink Demon himself? Though Norman knew very well that Bendy was capable of clear thought, even of speech, that side of him... wasn't always at the surface. Kind of like Norman himself, he supposed. It could be hard to tell, until he acted or spoke. Either way, he seemed to have a love-hate relationship with projectors. Norman had seen him staring at the flickering snippets on the screens, entranced – as if he could see them despite lacking eyes. Any time else, he seemed to navigate by sound, or by cutout.

Sometimes, despite his usual entrancement, Bendy flew into a sudden rage, tearing projectors loose and absconding with them when he didn’t simply toss them aside. It fell to Norman to set things right again afterwards – when he hadn’t been unfortunate enough to be caught up in the carnage. He was strong, but though gnarled and starved-looking, the demon was stronger. Reforming after having his head torn off was about as unpleasant as the decapitation, though it had only ever happened when his mind was spread out, but he survived somehow.

Bendy had begun to haul off his corpse each time, Norman wasn’t quite sure why. Morbid curiosity? Waiting to see when it melted? Perhaps if he _did_ have some measure of thought in his less rational state, he used it to time when Norman would be back? Considering his gaunt appearance, it was doubtful he was eating it. That was something, he supposed. He didn't hold it against Bendy - it had never seemed to be personal, and it had never happened while both of them were rational. He just... wished it was less frequent.


End file.
